Pistachio-Crusted Flounder with Sautéed Zucchini, Corn, & Scallions in Fresh Lemon Juice
So I'm loving my new job and there are quite a few perks to the wonderful new working-woman life I'm living. Sadly, I now work in Raleigh and the commute + busier work day = getting home almost 3 hours later than I did when I was working at Duke... certainly NOT one of them. (At least I'm a nerd and get to listen to NPR and have learned some good food-related stories and tips from All Things Considered!) And thankfully I still love food and still come home starving enough to want to cook something delicious. So today, for instance, I got home at just before 6:40pm and was STARVING. By 6:42pm, I was rummaging through the kitchen looking for dinner... either a quick fix or a snack to munch on while I cooked the real deal. No exact measurements here!
Frozen fillet of pistachio-crusted flounder from The Fresh Market1 zucchini
1/4 bag frozen corn
1 bunch of scallions
Coarsely-ground salt and pepper
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees (to bake the fish after you've sautéed it).
Heat olive oil in a sauté pan until gently bubbling.Defrost the flounder and add to pan; cook on each side for 3-4 minutes (until the crunchies turn golden brown).
Remove from the sauté pan and transfer to a baking pan (I used a 9" x 9" pan) and bake in the oven for 7 minutes (until it's evenly browned and cooked thoroughly).
While the flounder is baking, slice the zucchini and scallions.
Using the same sauté pan (and leaving any left over crunchies for the fish still in the pan), add more olive oil and diced garlic.
Cook the garlic for 1.5 minutes and add the zucchini.
Cook the zucchini until it begins to soften and turn golden.
Add the frozen corn straight to the pan and cook, with the zucchini, for about 4 minutes.
Add coarsely-ground salt and coarsely-ground pepper (generously is best in my opinion).
Add fresh-squeezed lemon juice and the scallions; cook until gently sizzling, the zucchini is soft, and the corn is thoroughly warmed through.Remove the baking pan from the heat and place a sheet of tinfoil to keep warm while the fish finishes baking.
When the fish is complete, remove and let cool for 30 seconds to 1 minute.
Serve the fish alongside the zucchini, corn, scallion combination. Add a little more pepper, salt, and fresh scallions on top before serving.
Since I was working on just about anything I could find in our pantry, I didn't have any directions or recipes to follow. I didn't have my partner in crime to help out either. Sometimes winging it in the kitchen can be the most rewarding. You don't need to be a great cook or really know much of anything... all I did was choose foods and flavors I like and throw a few of them together. Granted, it wasn't anything too adventurous or extravagant, but you never know how it could turn out. A little salt, pepper, and a prayer or two can get your food to be at least edible. Thankfully, this turned out pretty delicious and even lived up to Miss A's standards! 
I love following recipes and find that I've become a much better cook that way, but sometimes it's good to roll up your sleeves and just try something new! 
And the best part of all, was I was able to throw all of this together in 20 minutes--EXACTLY! 7:04pm -- pretty darn good if I do say so myself! If you have the right foundation of ingredients in your kitchen (salt, pepper, garlic, olive oil, a protein of some sort, and a few veggies), you can make almost anything -- YUMMY!
...Like the pre-seasoned fish idea? See if you have a Fresh Market in your area! Click here to search their locations!
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